White House hopeful Elizabeth Warren targets Big Tech breakup

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaks to local residents in the Queens borough of New York. Source: AP

Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren has taken aim at 'big tech companies', saying they are too powerful.

UpdatedUpdated 09/03/2019

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Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren has unveiled a proposal to break up Big Tech, arguing that firms such as Amazon, Google and Facebook hold " too much power" in society.

Ms Warren said that as president, she would press for legislation to designate big online companies with revenues of at least $US25 billion as "platform utilities" barred from owning "any participants on that platform."

The Massachusetts senator seeking her party's nomination for 2020 said she would also appoint antitrust enforcers "committed to reversing illegal and anti-competitive tech mergers," including acquisitions in recent years by Amazon, Facebook and Google.

"Today's big tech companies have too much power - too much power over our economy, our society and our democracy," she wrote in a blog post on Medium ahead of a New York rally where she was to speak about the plan.

"They've bulldozed competition, used our private information for profit, and tilted the playing field against everyone else."

"Unwinding these mergers will promote healthy competition in the market - which will put pressure on big tech companies to be more responsive to user concerns, including about privacy," she wrote.

Ms Warren said Amazon Marketplace, Google's ad exchange and Google Search would be considered platform utilities under her proposal.

By doing this, she said, "small businesses would have a fair shot to sell their products on Amazon without the fear of Amazon pushing them out of business."

Elizabeth Warren with an American flag as her backdrop speaks to local supporters in New York.

AP

Help or hurt consumers?

Ms Warren's plan sparked swift reaction from both sides of the issue.

The Computer & Communications Industry Association, which represents the three firms cited by Ms Warren, disputed her analysis.

The "unwarranted and extreme proposal, which focuses on a highly admired and highly performing sector, is misaligned with progressive values, many of which are shared within the tech industry," CCIA president Ed Black said.